Some flooding, road closures reported as showers scatter across North Bay; storm was ‘on par’ with predictions, Weather Service says

Scattered showers continued Thursday morning after a day of continuous rain that left a few roads closed and downed few trees.

As Thursday afternoon, most Sonoma County roads cordoned off due to flood waters had reopened, including Valley Ford Freestone Road between State Route 1 and Bodega Highway and Mark West Station Road near Starr Road, where fire officials performed a swift water rescue late Wednesday for a woman trapped in her vehicle.

Highway 175, which flooded about 4 a.m., remained closed as of 11:40 a.m. The road flooded just after the Russian River peaked at 17.3 feet — about 2.3 feet above flood stage, according to the California Nevada River Forecast Center.

The river did not approach flood stage in Healdsburg or Guerneville, however.

Early Thursday, the Sonoma County Fire District was dispatched to a tree that fell into telephone lines on Eastside Road near Riverfront Regional Park, fire district spokesperson Karen Hancock said. The tree was later removed from the road, which had been flagged the previous night due to flooding.

The National Weather Service received a few reports of mudslides and flooded roads, said Nicole Sarment, a meteorologist with the weather service’s Monterey office.

She said the storm was “on par” for what meteorologists predicted, though there did seem to be fewer hazards reported. She suggested that could have been because “people took this storm to heart” and “there were less people out and about.”

The storm ended up dropping just over 2 inches of rain in the interior valleys and about 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 inches in west Sonoma County before noon Thursday. Scattered storms, which popped up just after midnight, will likely continue until Saturday night.

Throughout Thursday, storms are expected to diminish in intensity and number, Sarment said. Thunderstorm chances, which are already below 20%, will also decrease.

“We're just in a really unsettled pattern right now,” Sarment said, referencing the incoming showers. “It's just going to be very hit or miss on who's going to get it how often.”

This story is developing. Check back for updates.

You can reach Staff Writer Madison Smalstig at madison.smalstig@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @madi.smals.